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Police warn of new LSD-like drug in St. Louis area: ‘N-Bomb’

By C. J. Refsland on January 10, 2013 • ( 0 )

“Parents warn your children. Satan is always finding new ways to tempt and torture. This sounds like a very dangerous drug.”

ST. LOUIS COUNTY • Police here are warning of a new hallucinogenic drug that has begun circulating the St. Louis area.

The synthetic drug, known as “N-Bomb” or “Smiles,” looks and acts like LSD and has been linked to deaths in California, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Dakota and Virginia, police say. The N-Bomb name stems from the drug’s chemical composition, 2C-I-NBOMe or 25I-NBOMe. The drug is derived from mescaline.

St. Louis County police say undercover drug officers have reported purchasing the drug recently. Police say N-Bomb is dangerous, growing in popularity, and for now, perfectly legal.

“It’s an extremely potent, hallucinogenic drug that can create violent, uncontrollable, psychotic episodes in people,” said James Shroba, special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration in St. Louis.

Unlike other popular synthetic substances that have been banned recently, such as K2 or Spice found mostly in smoke shops and gas stations, N-Bomb is sold on the Internet primarily from China, Shroba said. It’s ordered by mail in powder form, liquefied and absorbed into blotter paper, like LSD.

The drug’s effects, too, are similar to LSD, and it can be absorbed through the skin, Shroba said.

N-Bomb has been banned in at least two states, including Virginia and Louisiana. According to media reports, a 21-year-old man died at a New Orleans music festival in November after receiving a dose of N-Bomb from a stranger. He began convulsing and died a short time later, according to media reports. In June, a 21-year-old Texas man died after taking the drug at a party in June.

Shroba said the DEA is racing to ban the substances this year despite drug makers who are adept at altering chemical compounds to skirt drug laws and market them faster than they can be outlawed.

“You’ve got clever laboratories and scientists developing substances that have the same effect on the brain as the illegal variety,” Shroba said.

A Chesterfield mother spoke at a City Council meeting Monday night to warn people about the drug. She said in an interview Tuesday that she believes her 15-year-old daughter may have mistakenly ingested N-Bomb while attending a New Year’s Eve party at a friend’s house in Wildwood.

Carley Alves, 47, said her daughter came home intoxicated, hallucinating and highly sensitive to light and sound.

“She thought she was whispering but she was really screaming,” Alves said, adding that her daughter complained about bright lights and couldn’t open her eyes.

Alves said she contacted police, who told her that her daughter’s symptoms were consistent with effects of N-Bomb and about the drug’s similarities to LSD. She said she later learned some teens at the party may have been selling and consuming alcoholic drinks laced with N-Bomb.

County police are investigating claims of underage drinking and any illegal drug activity at the party in Wildwood. Alves said she knew nothing about N-Bomb before but hopes sharing her daughter’s experience can prevent others from overdosing.

via Police warn of new LSD-like drug in St. Louis area: ‘N-Bomb’ : Stltoday.